The
truth about Vitamin C working as a preventing agent against colds and
flu is that it can be fairly effective if you know how to take
it. Vitamin C is known to have strong anti-bacteria
components.
At the first onset of a cold, overdosing on Vitamin C can
actually
eliminate or improve one's cold symptoms. There is no health
risk in
taking exaggerated amounts of vitamins C during times of crisis because
your
body will take care of eliminating the excess naturally. Just
be
prepared for multiple washroom trips! The easiest way to do
this
would be to take 500 mg of Vitamins C every two hours until the
symptoms start to diminish* and you feel better.

A
lot of people, choose to take their daily intake of Vitamin C via
drinking orange juice every morning at breakfast and with other meals as well.
I
would advise against drinking orange juice (or other citrus juices)
when sick. Unless freshly pressed, juices are extremely
acidic.
In addition, citrus juice have especially high levels of
histamins adding to the one naturally released by your antibodies when
fighting symptoms of a cold. Histamine produces the tissue
inflammation
that is responsible for sore throats and stuffy or runny noses. That
explains
why most cold remedies are based on anti-histaminic medicine.
Instead, eat fresh whole fruits with low acidic and histamine
levels like these:

-Apple
-Banana
-Grapes
-Pear
-Cantaloupe
-Watermelon
-Mango

I'm personally big on smoothies. I have them for
lunch several times a week. A quick recipe is to use
a
combination of any of these fruits to fill up your blender.
Wash well and leave the skin on (when eatable obviously!) before
you cut
up your fruits in small pieces. Add a cup of milk or spring water, a
tiny bit of freshly pressed lemon juice
or pour open a couple capsules of Vitamin C in your smoothie to prevent it from oxidizing. Press "Chop" (leave it for a
minute or
so), then "Puree" and finally "Liquify"! This will give you
up to
4-5 portions. Drink over the next 48-72 hours.
It's healthy and yummy!

It's
not even winter yet and many teachers at my school have already gotten
sick at least once. At the risk of
sounding
redundant, let me repeat my Top 5 tips from last year to avoid catching
a cold or the
flu.

1) Take calcium/magnesium and Vitamin C supplements every day
to keep an
alkaline Ph level in your body and make it less vulnerable to
viruses.
2) Wash your hands often, keep them away from your face and
avoid
touching door knobs with bare hands to open doors. Be considerate of
others;
cough in your sleeve rather than in your hands to avoid spreading the
virus later.
3) Use organic menthol, eucalyptus and camphor-based products
to treat a sore throat and congested nose.
4) Drink lots of water to keep your vocal cords hydrated.
Add a little bit of raw honey to your cup of water to gently
coat
a dried and sore throat. Better yet, add some lemon and
breathe
its steam to relieve a stuffy nose.
5) Stay home and rest for your own sake and everyone else's!

Inspiring Quotes and Stories...

Being authentic

Life
can be full of surprises, good and bad: Where has the love
gone? Why is it so difficult just to be and let the goodness take
the lead? Existence can be overwhelmingly complicated
when getting away from the basics and what really matters. I wanna get my feet back to
the ground. This is what being authentic means to me:

-Be myself
-Open my eyes to the world
-Keep an open mind
-Never pretend
-Always try my best
-Practice what I preach
-Stay true to my convictions
-Stand for what I believe in
-Think before I speak and mean every word of it
-Follow my intuition
-Face my decisions
-Admit failure
-Accept responsibility
-Never look back; have no regrets
-Look inside and around me for inspiration
-Not being afraid to say "I love you!"
-Love with no expectation
-Be kind
-Forgive

Congratulations
to all my fellow teacher colleagues who worked really hard on
completing their first term report cards! Well done, everyone!
Parent interviews are coming shortly; good luck!

I'd like to take a moment in wishing everybody a happy and safe
holiday season. I hope that as many of you as possible can make
it through the holiday vacations cold-free. If you're
going somewhere hot, I'm jealous ;) Just kidding, I'm happy for
you! For everybody else, enjoy the magic of the season, but most
importantly, rest and have fun! For us Canadians, I hope it'll be a white one :) See you in 2009!

Things
to Note

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